


stop when you're done (not tired)

by thisissirius



Category: The Maze Runner (2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-20
Updated: 2014-12-20
Packaged: 2018-03-02 11:30:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2810582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisissirius/pseuds/thisissirius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>there are seven rules to running. </p>
<p>minho's broken only one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	stop when you're done (not tired)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sagasimon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagasimon/gifts).



> this is for sagisimon for yuletide. i didn't have much to go on - but i did find your twitter. i hope this is what you wanted from your prompts and that you enjoy it. 
> 
> i do love minho and thomas and while this is mostly a fic about minho, it's also a fic about minho _with_ thomas, if that makes sense?
> 
> Enjoy :)

**1\. Report to the map room**

The map room has always been somewhere Minho thinks explicitly as _his_. 

It’s not true, because all of the runners know it exists, all of them report there. None of them have seen the maze reconstruction in its entirety of course, but they know it’s there. Alby has sworn Minho to secrecy about the finite formation of the maze, and while he knows it has implications in its current form, somehow he can still stand to look at it. a

While it should make him frustrated to know that there’s no way out of the maze, that no matter how many days they spend running in the maze, there’s no way out of it, Minho is only more determined to find one. There has to be a way; they were put in here for a reason, Minho has always believed that, and that means there’s a way out. He refuses to believe otherwise. 

The map room is quiet when he walks in, the light fading fast beneath the trees. Minho isn’t expecting anyone to be there, so when he sees Thomas sitting with his back to the wall, legs pulled up to his chest, only years worth of honed reflexes keep him from yelling out and reacting. 

“I thought you’d be sleeping.”

Thomas looks up at him, the almost constant expression of determination missing. He looks sad, almost, like it’s all catching up with him. “Couldn’t.”

Minho hesitates before dropping down next to him. There’s a reason Alby and Newt are the leaders and not him; he’s not good at reassuring anybody, even his own runners. He cares about them, tells them what they need to know in his own way, but he doesn’t know how to make them feel better. He’s not here for that. How could anyone feel better in a place like this?

They don’t say anything for a long time. Eventually Thomas drops his head onto his arms. “How do you stand it? Knowing there’s no end?”

“There has to be,” Minho says. “If you think this is it, that we’re stuck here, then people will lose hope and everything you get annoyed at Gally for saying will be true.”

Thomas tips his head to the side, a half-smile on his face. “Running must seem-”

“Pointless?” Minho says, cutting across him? He can’t keep the anger from his voice. Thomas isn’t the first person to say so, but it still hurts to hear. “If you believe that, I made the wrong choice back there. 

That seems to snap Thomas out of whatever funk he’s fallen into. He straightens immediately, scowling. “You didn’t, I can do this!”

Minho nods, hiding his smile. He knows, he’s known since Thomas first threw Gally to the floor his first night. Give Thomas something to fight for, and he’ll be everything they need.

 

**2\. Receive your section assignments**

“You’ll be shadowing me.” Minho surveys the reconstruction of the maze. “We’ll take sector seven.”

Thomas nods, not an argument in sight, and it’s a refreshing change from what Minho’s used to. He’s never had someone to grateful to be a runner before, and if he hadn’t seen Thomas in action with his own eyes, he’d think the kid had a death wish. He knows there’s something there, whether it really is stupidity or bravery, but Minho wasn’t lying. 

They could use more of it in the Glade. 

Minho would never admit it out loud, but he is grateful to have someone who seems to appreciate how important the maze is to their salvation. 

 

**3\. Gear up**

“What’s this?”

Minho rolls his eyes. “You don’t want to end up in the middle of the maze with no food and water, do you?”

“No.” Cheeks red, Thomas takes the gear wordlessly. 

“It’ll hold the water and whatever else you need to carry. Including paper and a pencil if you need to write it down.”

The gear is Ben’s - not that Minho tells Thomas that. They don’t have surplus gear; when a Runner dies, another has to take his place. He thinks Thomas knows that anyway, from the complicated look on his face as he puts it on. 

Minho has never asked him about what happened, doesn’t think he wants to know. Ben’s name has been scratched from the wall, like everybody else that dies in the Glade, but Minho carries his face anyway. He carries the faces of them all, and tries not to let them wear him down. He can’t afford to make a misstep or keep from doing something that needs to be done.

There isn’t room for hesitation in the glade.

“Does it fit okay?”

“Yeah,” Thomas says, testing the straps. “We were the same size.”

It’s the closest they get to mentioning it, but as Minho turns to leave the room, he gives Thomas a look. “You’re going to make a good runner.”

He waits only to see a minute relaxation in Thomas’s shoulders and lets the door shut behind him. 

 

**4\. Run**

“Is it ever too hard to run?” Thomas asks, when they take a break. 

“It’s always too hard to run,” Minho replies, and leaves him to figure that out for himself. 

 

**5\. Never stop running**

Minho breaks rule five only once. 

He’s known Thomas a short time, doesn’t even really know him at all, but he came back when nobody else did. 

By rights he should keep running. It’s what he would tell any of his Runners, but for some reason Thomas has stopped and Minho can’t make his legs work, not when there’s a chance he could do something to help. 

“ _Don’t look back!_ ” If there’s one thing more important than never stop running, it’s not looking back. It means the difference between life and death. Minho can see more than enough for the both of them, but he’s not going to run this time, not with Thomas’ life on the line. 

He’s startled by how much he cares, but he can analyze that later. 

(He does, much later, when they’re breaking out of the maze. When Thomas tells them who he really is, when Minho chooses not to care and sides with Thomas because he’s everything Minho has ever needed in a Runner, has ever needed in a _friend_.)

 

**6\. Come back**

“He’s not back yet,” Newt says, eyes holding history and pain that neither of them are willing to address. 

“I’ll wait.” Minho stands at the entrance to the maze, eyes trained on the exits either side. If Thomas appears, he’ll see him. 

Chuck looks like he’s going to argue. Minho knows they’ve become good friends in such a short time, but Chuck isn’t the only one who cares. Thankfully, Newt knows better, and puts a hand on Chuck’s shoulder. He’s much better at being diplomatic, too, and Minho forgets about them as soon as they’re gone. He learned a long time ago not to give in to tiredness, and he’s willing to stand outside the doors until Thomas appears. 

If the doors start to shut before he gets back, Minho will just have to go and get him. Thomas has already done the same for him. 

 

**7\. If you survive, we do it all over again the next day**

Despite the room in the helicopter, the Gladers stick close to each other. Minho and Newt are on either side of Thomas, and that’s where they’re going to stay. Despite the worry Thomas had shown back in the Glade, despite his own personal history with Wicked - whatever that turns out to be - he found their way out of the maze and led them to safety, whatever that means. 

Ignoring their rescuers, Minho leans in close to Thomas, knowing that only Newt can overhear them. “Rule 7.”

Thomas’ eyes clear, Running a language they both speak, and he nods. Minho knows he’s got the message and sits back against the metal casing of the helicopter. 

They’ve survived the Glade. Whatever comes next, they’ll survive that too. It’s what they do.

.the end


End file.
